


Into a White and Soundless Place

by babykid528



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [22]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Abandonment, Complicated Relationships, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Love, M/M, Reunions, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 14:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6012061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babykid528/pseuds/babykid528
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She can’t see him. There are too many people in the room and she’s still too far away from the makeshift stage, but she hears every word he says, every answer he gives, and the tone of his voice is enough to paint an exact mental picture of the bright-eyed man who helped raise her.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into a White and Soundless Place

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raedbard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raedbard/gifts).



> Kit gave me a line from "Love Love Love," by The Mountain Goats - _But the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one_ \- and asked me to write some Sam/Molly. This is both shippier than I expected it would be, and also not as shippy as I hoped it would be. Either way, it's full of undeniably complicated, painful feels of the Sam/Molly variety.

Molly drives. She doesn’t know how long, but she keeps going. She has a destination to get to and she doesn’t have time to waste. She glances in the rearview mirror, catches a glimpse of her dog - Aristophanes - moving in her sleep to get more comfortable. It makes Molly smile. 

Huck is asleep in the seat beside her, snoring louder than the dog. While it would ordinarily be an irritating sound if they were home, it’s a reassuring one as they move ever closer to their final destination. He hadn’t wanted to go with her, and dad hadn’t wanted either of them to go at all, but Molly’s never been one to do anything other than what she wants. And she wants to go. She _needs_  to. So Huck decided to tag along.

They reach their hotel as the sun drifts behind the horizon. Huck checks in with the bags and the dog. Molly gives them both a kiss goodbye before heading out. Huck may have tagged along, but he still won’t make an appearance that night. Molly doesn’t really mind.

She pulls her scarf tighter as she pushes into the town hall. There are a surprising number of people packed into the small space, but the first person she sees is Josh. He looks at her a moment, confused, before recognition blossoms across his features. He looks old - older now than even just a year ago when she saw him last. He still smiles like a young man, though. Molly can’t stop herself from smiling back.

“What are you doing here?” he asks as he crosses the room to her and pulls her into a warm hug.  


She’s about to give some pithy answer, something that will make him smile wider and think of her dad, but a familiar voice drifts over the sound system in the hall and her voice leaves her completely. Josh gives her a knowing look, his smile turning a little sad at the edges, and he squeezes her shoulder.

“He’s just starting,” he tells her.  


She nods, blinking against the sudden and embarrassing well of tears.

She can’t see him. There are too many people in the room and she’s still too far away from the makeshift stage, but she hears every word he says, every answer he gives, and the tone of his voice is enough to paint an exact mental picture of the bright-eyed man who helped raise her. 

Josh keeps close the entire time he’s speaking and Molly manages to keep the waterworks at bay. Just barely. The applause at the finish is incredible and it takes another hour after the event ends for everyone to clear out of the room. When they’re gone, Molly and Josh remain, glued to their positions, as they watch Sam smile at one of the event coordinators when she passes him a fresh bottle of water.

He almost drops it when his eyes find the two of them.

“Breathe.” Josh’s voice is so soft, Molly’s not sure she didn’t imagine him saying it. Either way, she takes a deep, shuddering breath. 

“Molly?” Sam asks, voice hesitant.  


Molly’s sure, in a way similar to Josh, that Sam’s old looking now too. She’s also sure, if she were feeling more objective, she’d be able to see it. All she sees is the same face that’s haunted her every moment, awake or asleep, since he walked away from her ten years ago.

She hasn’t been able to find her voice since hearing his again, so she just nods in response to his question. The motion dislodges the tears she can’t hold back any longer, though, and he’s crossing the room to her in a few, brisk steps.

The arms he wraps around her feel like an awkward mix of strangeness and _home_. The way they shake and hold her closer as Sam dissolves into his own tears does nothing to settle Molly’s emotional tumult.

 _You left and didn’t look back_ , she wants to say. _Did you think of us? Of me? Did I haunt you whenever you closed your eyes too?_

She just holds on tighter though, teeth clamped shut, before he steps away enough to give her a good look. He drinks her in with his eyes, like a man whose wandered too long without water.

_I’ve never been happier to see anyone in all of my life._

He doesn’t say the words, but she imagines he wants to.

“What are you doing here?” he asks instead.  


There are any number of things she could say. Things from _I missed you, I still miss you, I’ll always miss you_  to _I was in town and figured it might be a good way to spend an evening_. She just shrugs a little, uncharacteristically timid in his presence, before saying, “You didn’t miss a single one of my school concerts… how could I miss your first town hall meeting as a presidential candidate?”

Sam huffs out a half-laugh as his eyes fill with renewed tears. He’s missed plenty of things in the last ten years. _Plenty_. They both know it’s true. But Molly also remembers a time when he never missed a thing. Not a _single_ thing. She’s been holding onto those memories, clinging close to them in the dark, ever since he left.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he says, voice choked with emotions far greater than words can convey.  


She smiles watery at him and he frames her face with his cool hands, like he used to do when she was younger. The kiss he presses to her forehead is wet but it feels sure. More sure than anything else has ever felt in Molly’s life. She reaches up, covers his hands with her own, and leans into his touch, soaking it in. She knows now that it won’t always be there. 

She plans to get her fill of it while she can.


End file.
